By BILL KNIGHT
For The Weekly Post
ELMWOOD – Elmwood schools apparently won’t be getting a new, free electric bus from money from the settlement of a lawsuit stemming from the shutdown of the E.D. Edwards power station in Bartonville. The Review Board considering grant applications from funds set aside by Edwards owner Vistra Energy asked to have Elmwood removed from consideration, keeping school districts closer to the site, according to Superintendent Chad Wagner at Monday’s Board of Education meeting.
Farmington, Princeville and Dunlap also were excluded, said Williamsfield superintendent Tim Farquer. His school is still under consideration for the grant. “We’re still alive but with less people,” said Farquer, who believes that could be because he was the person who wrote the grant application.
Vistra, based in Texas, this summer settled a suit brought by environmental groups, agreeing to close the company’s coal-fired plant by Dec. 31, 2022, and also to provide $6.88 million for projects for public health or environmental projects that benefit Central Illinois. Meanwhile, other planning and investment continues with the Board’s Building Committee finalizing plans for a remodel of the gym and locker rooms. Tentatively set to complete a final design by Feb. 11, the project could send out bids Feb. 27, following the Board’s next meeting on Wed, Feb. 19.
In other news, students in grades 7-12 at 1 p.m. Feb. 11 will participate in an interactive assembly organized by social studies teacher Emily Roberts and technology integration specialist Marcy Brugger featuring a Skype conversation with Melba Pattillo Beals, one of the “Little Rock Nine,” the first African-American students to attend an all-white in Little Rock, Ark., in 1956.
In other business,
• Elementary School Principal Dimitri Almasi reported that the Illinois Assessment of Readiness testing window is set for March 23-April 8 to provide the opportunity for tests to be finalized before spring break;
• The Board approved Gorenz and Associates of Peoria as auditing firm for the 2020-21 school year;
• The Board OK’d hiring Bruce Melz as a part-time elementary computer aide at the rate of $10/hour for the 2019-2020 school year;
• The Board approved the 2020-21 school calendar, which sets Aug. 18 as the first day of school and May 19 as end of the year, depending on emergency days; and including holidays of Sept. 7 (Labor Day), Oct. 12 (Columbus Day), Nov. 25-27 (Thanksgiving break), Dec. 21-Jan. 1 (winter break), Jan. 18 (the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day), Feb. 15 (Presidents Day), and April 1-5 (spring break); and
• Activity funds show top elementary accounts as $10,007 for extracurricular activities and $7,274 for yearbook, and for the Junior/Senor High School $8,927 for boys track and $7,458 for cross country.
